


Competence

by happyaspie



Series: Spider-man Stories: Not Otherwise Specified [8]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Angry Peter Parker, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bickering, Canon-Divergence Post Spider-man Homecoming, Character Growth, Confident Peter Parker, Emotions, First Impressions, Human Disaster Tony Stark, Intern Peter Parker, Light Angst, Making Up, Mixed Messages, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Nervous Peter Parker, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Spider-Man: Homecoming Compliant, Supportive May Parker (Spider-Man), Tony Stark Does What He Wants, verbal arguments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:15:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23415148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happyaspie/pseuds/happyaspie
Summary: Peter Parker is starting his 'internship' with Tony Stark.  He wants to be excited about it but he has a few reservations.  The top of the list being that Mr. Stark had always kept distance between them, only showing up with he felt it was necessary and shoving him off on Happy when he didn't.  The mixed messages he been receiving from his mentor to be were also a bit... confusing and he really didn't know what to expect.Or:Tony Stark has a lot to learn and is [temporarily] a bad mentor.  That is until Peter's hero-worship fades and he's able to find the confidence needed to set the man straight.  He isn't an incompetent child or frivolous pet project and he's tired of being treated as such.
Relationships: Happy Hogan & Peter Parker, Happy Hogan & Tony Stark, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Spider-man Stories: Not Otherwise Specified [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1574956
Comments: 107
Kudos: 406
Collections: ellie marvel fics - read





	1. Foreword

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... this first chapter... I wrote it at like, three in the morning one night and then looked at it and said, "What the crap did I just write?", and I literally stopped mid-word and went to bed.  
> However, _I liked it_. So I kept going back to it and reading it, tweaking it, thinking about it until I had some I have a vague idea of what I could do with it. I think I finally have a plan. I have a goal anyway and I'm sort of excited to play around with the idea of Tony _not_ , instantly being soft because let's face it... he wasn't really there yet in Civil War. You sort of see where he was starting to get there in Homecoming but even then, he wasn't. He was still rough around the edges. I wholeheartedly believe that they got to a point [based on their interactions in IW] where they had a good healthy mentor/mentee relationship and I'm really sad that we were robbed of that journey. So... I suppose this is my take on it.
> 
> Because I needed ANOTHER Fanfic to keep up with. 😂 #This is How I Self-Isolate

Often, as Peter would lay in his bed in Queens, roll back and forth and try to focus on the beating of his own heart in order to lure himself to sleep. Sleep had been something that was hard to come by since he'd gained his spider powers. Not just because of his late patrols but because there always seemed to be an itch at the back of his skull. One that said, there's danger around you and you need to stop it. It wasn't the same as the hair raising, prickles that jolted him when he was an imminent threat, this one was more of an annoyance but _sometimes,_ not being able to sleep through it afforded him the time to think.

Things had changed a lot over the last nine months or so. He'd lost his uncle, gained super-powers from a radioactive spider, taken on a secret vigilante alter-ego, met Tony Stark, stolen Captain America's shield, and taken on a hardcore villain all the while keeping his identity under wraps. Mostly under wraps. Obviously, Mr. Stark knew who he was and Ned had found out about it purely by mistake. Then there was May. She too had discovered his secret by mistake but she'd not taken it nearly as well as Ned had.

  
He'd tried to explain but his aunt had been upset. More than upset, she'd been angry. Not just as him for lying to her but at Mr. Stark for perpetuating it, saying that he was an adult and should have had enough sense to know that you don't keep that kind of information from the guardian of a 'minor'. He couldn't even argue with her. He'd been just as surprised as she was that the man had been so willing to keep it quiet. Though, part of him wondered if he'd done so for the sole purpose of maintaining some amount of leverage. Something to lord over his head when he needed him to bend to his will. The number of times the man had told him, 'I'll tell Aunt May...', in order to gain his compliance really should have been concerning.

  
It was that incident that had led to the offer of a real internship and Peter wasn't sure if it had been proposed because Mr. Stark had been serious about mentoring him or if May had insisted upon it. Either way, he was somewhat excited about having been invited to spend time at the upstate facility, even if he wasn't quite sure what to expect. Mr. Stark had always kept distance between them, only showing up with he felt it was necessary and shoving him off on Happy when he didn't. The worst part was that Happy ignored him too. In fact, if he was being honest with himself, _which he wasn't_ , he'd realize that Mr. Stark's lack of concern and Happy's previous lack of patience, had been the root of his problems on homecoming night. If they would have just listened to him he wouldn't have been terrifyingly trapped under that building without his suit. All Happy had to do was hear Ned out and he wouldn't have had to face the Vulture on his own. He wouldn't have had to painfully crash down onto Coney Island with the burning plane. There was a lot of trauma that could have been avoided there if they had simply _listened_. 

They'd never even acknowledged that part of it. Sure, Happy had been nicer than he'd ever been to him before when he'd picked him up from school to take him to the compound but not once did he ask him how he was doing or if he was okay. Then there was Mr. Stark. He'd at least apologized for taking the suit but beyond that, he'd been far more focused on taking credit for providing the 'tough love moment' that he'd _apparently_ needed than inquiring about his mental health. He'd not even been able to get a word in until he was being asked to join the Avengers, as if he was in the mindset to be put through any sort of test at the moment and that had been that. They hadn't really spoken again until a day or so later when May had insisted that if he ever wanted to put the suit back on again then she had to speak to the man who had provided him with it.

That's what led him to where he was right now. Laying in bed staring at the ceiling and trying to sort out how the first day of his 'mentoring' was going to go. While he was excited about it, he would have been further lying to himself if he said he wasn't somewhat nervous as well. He was meant to spend an entire day with the man who had been sending him mixed messages since the whole Germany debacle had taken place. One minute Mr. Stark was complimenting him and the next he was telling him what a screw up he was but the worst part had been when the man said that he'd wanted him to 'be better'. That had felt like a low blow. He'd not even known what to do with a statement like that. Still didn't. All he'd ever wanted to to do was to impress the man and he couldn't wrap his brain around how the genius, billionaire turned superhero could possibly expect him to ever be capable of being _better than him._ Tony Stark had everything. The man was strong, charismatic, respected, and had more resources at his fingertips than any other person on the planet while he was just... an awkward teenager who had to dumpster dive to build his own tech. Being _'better'_ seemed like an impossible expectation. 

Peter sighed and rolled over onto his side and tried to press the conflicting thoughts to the back of his head in favor of sleep. He just hoped that Mr. Stark wasn't going to simply push him to the side and leave him to his own devices. He would be giving up an entire day of patrolling just to be there. It would be nice if he could get something out of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapters will be longer. This was just sort of the 'set up' I guess. :) 
> 
> Come talk to me on [tumblr](https://yes-i-am-happyaspie.tumblr.com)  
> Heck! Come talk to me here! Comments are always appreicated.


	2. Not So Bad

The next morning Peter was pulled from sleep by his aunt gently shaking his shoulder. The alarm that he thought he'd set never went off. Part of him was annoyed to have been awake from such a peaceful rest. Dreamless nights had become few and far between post homecoming. Precilingly green-glowing eyes, burning beaches, and binding rubble haunted him in his dreams on a regular basis. He was pretty sure that the only thing keeping him sane was the pressing drive to put the people's needs above his own. He had to keep it together for their sake. Someone had to look out for the little guy.

With a deep sigh, Peter stood in the middle of his room and tried to decide what he was supposed to wear. No one had said anything to him about what he would actually be doing. He ended up going with a pair of dark khakis and a t-shirt with a button-down over it figuring that would have him covered. He could go from business-casual to casual-causal just by ditching the extra shirt. 

After quickly showering he began to stuff his backpack with everything he thought he might need for the day. His phone for obvious reasons, some homework in case he was left with nothing else to do and at May's insistence, ten dollars for lunch and a banana in case he was still hungry. It wasn't until it was nearly time for Happy to pull up to the curb to collect him that he thought to throw the suit into his bag as well. It had crossed his mind that maybe if nothing else, Mr. Stark would afford him the time and materials to produce some extra web fluid. He wouldn't be able to swipe his school's supplies forever. 

Being largely satisfied with the contents of his bag, Peter kissed his aunt on the cheek and made his way down to the sidewalk where Happy was to meet him. It wasn't quite time so he leaned himself against a street lamp and pulled out his phone. Seeing at it was before noon on a Saturday he was unsurprised to find that he had no texts or messages from an overly eager Ned. He suspected that he would have more than a few by the end of the day. His friend was far more optimistic about how exciting the day was going to be than he was. ' _You get to hang out with Tony Freaking Stark, Dude! How are you not freaking out about that?',_ Ned had asked him and he wasn't really sure he had a good response to that. 

There were plenty of things that he was excited about. He was excited to see more of the compound. He was excited by the prospect of watching Mr. Stark at work and he was maybe even a little excited that he could potentially learn a bit more about the thousands of settings in his suit. What he wasn't excited about was the likelihood of Mr. Stark either losing interest in him or have somewhere else to be within the first hour of his arrival thus leaving him to be pawned off on someone else. At least he'd packed his Literature notes. He had an essay due on Monday.

Happy pulled up to the curb not a moment sooner than he'd said he would and rolled down the passenger side window. "Come on, kid. We need to go, I don't have all day and Tony's expecting you.", the man said not unkindly but Peter didn't necessarily see it that way. Especially when the entire ride was spent in neat silence. Outside of a few causals inquires about whether or not he was excited, the driver was content to focus on the road. Even as they accended the long drive leading up to the compound he remained silent until it was time to get out of the car. 

Peter followed Happy through the building as instructed. He was glad that as they started entering the unfamiliar areas of the facility that the man began to casually point things out to him. He was just starting to get comfortable with the casual tour when Mr. Stark appeared seemingly out of nowhere. "Oh good, you're here.", the man said with a clap of his hands but there was no further greeting as he immediately turned his attention towards Happy. "Thanks. I've got it from here."

"Are you sure you don't want me to stick around?", Happy inquired with a dubious tone that Peter didn't quite understand. He'd used the same tone in the car after Germany and the last time he was at the compound when Mr. Stark had said he wanted a minute with him. He didn't have time to contemplate it much before a strong hand was grasping his shoulder, pulling him away from where he'd been standing beside Happy.

"Yep. I've got the kid. I'll see you when it's time to take him back home.", Mr. Stark said with the same confidence that always carried his words. Happy didn't budge and Peter watched as Mr. Stark began to nudge him towards the front of the building while saying something about boundaries. The other man huffed before meandering back down the hall, periodically looking over his shoulder as he did so. 

Once Happy had rounded the corner, Peter found himself alone with his new mentor. He thought things would get awkward after that but there wasn't any time to really assess that. The man was already practically dragging him through the long corridors and into an elevator rambling about the various things he'd put on hold to make himself available for the day. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to feel honored or guilty by the speech so he simply nodded his head. It wasn't as though he could get a word in any way.

"Where's the suit? You did bring the suit, right?", Mr. Stark eventually asked while looking him over with scrutiny. 

Peter could feel the man's eyes burning into him as he stood there shuffling on his feet. Several seconds passed before he realized that the man had actually paused his dialogue in want of an answer. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah... It's uh, it's here in my bag, sir.", he hesitantly returned as he pulled the bag around to his front and patted the top of it. 

"You have my multi-million-dollar suit crumpled up at the bottom of a backpack?", the man asked with a quirk of his brow that made Peter's stomach flip. He'd been there for less than ten minutes and he'd already messed up. He braced himself for the scolding that he was sure was about to come but before he could get out much more than stuttered 'um', Mr. Stark waved his hand around as if to clear the air and brushed past his own query. 

"--You know what? It's fine.", the man declared as if he'd not been giving the impression that it wasn't fine, not ten seconds prior. "Here's what we're going to do today. You and I are going to take a look at that suit of yours. I mean I realize that it already has everything in it but I thought that since you'll be spending some time here I may as well let you have some input. Anything you want to add?", he asked but didn't actually pause for an answer. "Anything but flight. No room in your spandex for thrusters. Anything else we can consider but first I want to show you where we'll be working.", Mr. Stark proclaimed as he strode out of the elevator and through a pair of sliding glass doors. 

Peter froze as they entered the workspace. It was beyond anything that he could have ever imagined. His eyes darted across the room as he tried to mentally name as many machines as he could recognize which was a small number considering how many were neatly packed into the large sprawling room. He wasn't sure how long he stood there with his mouth hanging open like an idiot before he felt the hand that had been on his shoulder leave him and Mr. Stark to appear in front of him rubbing his hands together and smiling. 

"Amazing right? No words? I expected as much. Now, I haven't really had time to set much up but I figured you could use this little corner of the lab today.", the man said as he gestured towards an area that had been set up with a desk, a tool chest and a holo-table. For the man to have said that it wasn't much, it certainly looked like a lot. It was right on the tip of his tongue to say that along with a robust thank you but Mr. Stark was once again talking over him before he could get anything out. "Mr. Stark, this--"

"--Oh and that's DUM-E and his slightly more useful counterparts Butterfingers and U.", the man stated, as one of the robots came whirring past them with a few friendly beeps. "DUM-E, here, is a bit of a mess don't let him help you with anything and definitely don't eat or drink anything he tries to give you.", he continued and then waved the robot off to join the others in the back of the room. "Now, Let's get started--wait! Before we get started we should take a tour or the lab, you want a tour, right? Of course, you do.", Mr. Stark said but as before, there was no gap for a reply. He'd already decided what the answer was and that was good enough for him. Peter wondered if he would ever be allowed to speak for himself.

From there, Mr. Stark jumped around the room explaining everything, never once taking so much as a breath as he did so. Peter followed behind him dutifully nodding his head and tucking away all of his questions for another time. It was evident that he wouldn't be given the opportunity to ask them. It was like the man was all over the place. He couldn't decide if it was because he was eccentric or slightly nervous about his new ventures in mentoring. It was hard to tell. The man had been switching between his media perfect smile and a generally aloof air since he'd arrived. 

Once the sort of erratic tour had been completed Mr. Stark had him pull his suit out. Peter knew this was probably a good time to get a word in, as the man sat nearby typing away at something but he opted to stay quiet. Only opening his mouth to let the man know that he'd acquired the requested item. From there, things went better than expected. The man sat beside him, plugged the suit into the main drive and pulled up the code. Then he actually sat there for a good half an hour explaining things while Peter remained quiet and just listened. 

"You know you're a lot quieter than I thought you would be.", Tony said once he'd unplugged the suit and was running his hands over the material in search of any rips or snags.

'You're a lot more talkative than I thought you would be.', Peter thought to himself but rather than say it out loud, he apologized. Mr. Stark brushed it off and started typing into the console before them. "That's the schematics for your suit. Well, a copy of it anyway. Feel free to mess around with it. Add things, take things away, whatever, this is all yours. I have the master copy on my private server.", the man said before patting him on the shoulder and disappearing to the other side of the room. 

Being left alone at a desk was much closer to what Peter had expected to happen while he was there. He thoroughly appreciated the hour or so that man spent with him and was exceptionally grateful that he'd not been pushed onto another employee. More so he was eager to go through the schematics of his suit. The problem was that he had no idea how to work with the holo-table that he'd been sitting at. Therefore, there were several minutes where he sat and watched the blue glowing image rotate before him. A glace to the side showed that Mr. Stark was deep in his own little world, manipulating some schematics of his own. Peter watched as he waved his hands, prodded and seemingly scooped up various parts. Then with a deep breath, he decided to push his unease aside and give it a try. He reached out and slowly used two of his fingers to swipe the image, making it spin faster. He couldn't stop the smile that grew on his face as he did so. Being in Tony Starks lab working with that level of technology was beyond his wildest dreams.

It took him unsurprisingly little time to figure out how to select parts, move things around and undo mistakes. Partially from trial and error but also from watching Tony and copying his movements from across the room. He'd become so involved that he'd not realized how much time had passed until his body began to complain. With a sigh, he looked down at his phone. It was after one in the afternoon and he'd missed six texts from Ned. The texts he could worry about later. At the moment he was more interested in figuring out what he was meant to do. He'd been there for hours, working without pause and at no point had anyone said anything to him about a breakroom, let alone pointed out a bathroom. 

He considered pulling out the banana he had stored in his bag but he was worried he wasn't meant to eat while in the lab. Mr. Stark had never given him any sort of guidelines and frankly, a singular piece of fruit wasn't likely to satiate his gnawing hunger. He looked across the room and noticed that his new mentor no longer seemed as enthralled by his project. Rather he was sitting at a desk with reading glasses on his nose and a laptop in front of him. It struck him as odd to see the man in reading glasses but he didn't dwell on it. Instead, he cautiously crossed the room so that he was standing in front of the man's desk. "Mr. Stark, sir?", he whispered, causing the man to flinch despite his low volume.

"Jesus, you're quiet when you walk. What is it, kid? Got a question, suggestion, complaint? What's up?", Mr. stark asked while hurridly ripping the glasses off of his nose and crossing his arms on the desktop.

Unsure of how he was supposed to respond to the man's startled response, Peter chose to ignore it. Rather he shifted nervously on his feet and toyed with his hands. Now, that the had Mr. Stark's attention it was a little nervewracking to actually ask. He didn't want to come off as accusatory or ungrateful but he really needed some clarification. "Well, I didn't know what I was supposed to do about breaks. Like, lunch and, um... the bathroom?", he questioned more than stated. 

Mr. Stark glanced down at the clock on the corner of his screen before cringing. "Geez, I didn't realize what time it was. Sorry, kiddo. We can order some lunch. What do you like, Chinese, pizza, sandwiches... shwarma?", he questioned all on one breath. 

"Anything is good, sir. May gave me ten dollars so, that should get me whatever.", Peter replied with a nod od his head. He was so hungry that he would have agreed to eat literally anything. Including something, he'd never heard of... _like shwarma._ It sounded more like a biological classification than a type of food but he was willing to give it a try.

"What? No. You're not... You're not _paying for your own lunch_. When you're here, I take care of it.", Tony replied sounding incredulous. Peter held up his hands in an attempt to decline the offer but the man was already, predictably, talking over him. He seemed to do that a lot. It was going to take some getting used to. "--Internship perk. What do you want?"

"I'm not picky, Mr. Stark.", Peter returned with a shrug of his shoulder. Mr. Stark rolled his eyes and suggested pizza, to which Peter easily agreed to. The man then placed what sounded like a very large order and then dropped his gaze back to his computer screen, saying that he hoped to be done with whatever he was doing before the food arrived. 

While he was glad to hear that they would be eating soon, the man hadn't exactly addressed his full inquiry and Peter was left standing in front of the desk, chewing his lip. He was considering waiting until the food arrived to bring up the bathroom again when Mr. Stark realized he was still there and looked up at him with a quirked brow "You need something else?", he' then questioned, thus ending, Peter's internal debate. 

"Yes, sir. Can I... I mean, _may I_. May I go use the, uh, the bathroom, please, Mr. Stark?", Peter asked as politely as he could. It had not been his intention to interrupt anything but on the plus side, the man hadn't looked terribly bothered by his lingering presence. Just... curious. Though once he'd gotten his question out, Mr. stark's face had changed from neutral to an amused half-smile.

"You don't need my permission to use the bathroom, kid. Just go whenever you need to. I'm not your kindergarten teacher, I don't need to know about it.", the man smirked causing Peter's cheeks to heat up a bit. Mr. Stark already called him 'kid' on more occasions than he'd called him by his name. He'd not meant to perpetuate that by asking what he'd assumed was an appropriate question. It's not like he'd ever had a job before and at school, you couldn't rightly leave a room without asking... He swallowed back the small flustered feeling that was filling his chest and took a deep breath in through his nose.

"Cool.", he breathed out with more confidence than he felt but as he scanned the room he remembering that the building he was in was gigantic and he didn't actually know where in it that the bathroom was. "Um... Where, where is it?", he further inquired and listened carefully as Tony gave him some instructions. Then after a quick 'thank you', he started towards the door. He could have sworn that he could feel the man's mirthful eyes on his back the whole time.

It didn't take long for the food to arrive and Tony was beckoning him over to a small lounge area that was attached to the lab. There was a couch in one corner and a high-top counter with several stools in another. It was quieter in the partitioned area of the room. The clank of the machines and the whir of the robots was muted by the glass and typically he would have enjoyed the reprieve from the cacophony but it almost felt too quit. 

Mr. Stark who had been talking non-stop all day seemed to be focused on the news station that was playing in the corner of the room as he ate. Though he did occasionally toss out a question here and there. Nothing discussion-worthy just little things like, 'How's the pizza?' and 'Would you like another can of soda'. Things you ask your guests in order to sound polite. Then, as they started to clean up the boxes and crush the cans, the man looked him over with scrutiny.

"You know, you're a lot chattier as Spider-man. I sort of expected you to spend the day asking me a hundred and one questions.", Mr. Stark cryptically stated as he folded up the last box and shoved it into the large trashcan. 

Unsure of how to take that, Peter looked up from where he was still sitting and opened his mouth but it took several seconds for him to come up with what to say. He couldn't tell if the man has said what he'd said out of relief or if it had been more of a complaint. He finally settled on a response that hopefully ticked all the right boxes. "I mean, I _do_ have questions. You just... looked busy and I didn't want to annoy you or anything like that, sir."

Still appearing unimpressed, Mr. Stark's eyes went to the time that was displayed in the corner of the newscast on the television screen. "Look, you've got two more hours before Happy's going to be driving you home and you have a rare opportunity here, kid. Not many people get to spend a casual afternoon picking my brain, so if you have something to ask I suggest you ask it. Unless of course, you'd rather do your homework, that I know you have packed in that bag of yours.", the man said, his mouth turning to a teasing smirk at the end.

"Oh.", Peter replied with mild surprise. He'd not expected to be invited to ask as many questions as he wanted and he wasn't sure where to start. His brain was ticking through everything that he'd been considering all day. He finally decided to question the one thing that had been on his mind since he'd received the original invitation. "Well, sir, how, how often are we going to be doing this? I mean was this a one-time thing or...", he inquired, his voice trailing off on the end. He didn't want to suggest anything and come off as needy or anything.

"Hadn't really thought about it. I wanted to wait and see how this little get together went. Do you want to come back?", the man asked him in return and it was all Peter could do to not jump up off od his seat before he answered. There was no doubt in his mind. He wanted to come back. Even if Mr. Stark had never said one word to him during the hours that he'd been there he would want to come back. Who wouldn't want to hang out in the same room as Tony Stark?

Yeah. I mean, yes sir, I would love to come back.", Peter replied, making an effort to keep the urgency out of his voice but he needed the man to know that he meant it. "This place is awesome. You have absolutely everything and it was really cool to get to work with the holo-table. I've never done that before and--", he rambled without thought. Now that he'd opened his mouth he couldn't seem to shut it. 

"--You'd never worked with one of those before today?", Mr. Stark interrupted as his eyebrows met his hairline. 

"N-no, sir. I mean, I don't have, like access to anything like that...", Peter replied feeling wholly unprepared to explain that he and his aunt lived paycheck to paycheck. He was kind of surprised that those kinds of details hadn't come up in all the research the man had to had done while tracking him down. 

"Not even at your nerd school of yours?", Mr. Stark further pressed, looking even more shocked when Peter shrugged his shoulder and shook his head. "Huh. You should have said something I could have shown you how it all worked.", he then expressed and suddenly Peter felt the need to defend himself. It wasn't like he'd been sitting there doing nothing. He'd done his best to keep up and he thought he'd been doing fairly well.

"Oh! I figured it out, for the most part, Mr. Stark. It was fine. I mean it took a while and it was challenging... a good kind of challenging.", he hurriedly replied, snapping his mouth shut when the man held up his hand in quiet.

"You did look anything up. You just... _figured it out_.", Mr. Stark blandly returned and once again Peter was left to chew on his lip and try to interpret what the man had meant by that. It sounded like he didn't believe him.

"Yeah. I just messed around with it, sir, and watched you working on your schematics. I... tried to do what you were doing.", he eventually explained and was relieved when the man broke out into a smile. 

"You're telling me that went from zero knowledge on 3-D holo-modeling to fitting new parts and re-laying wires in one sitting by just... messing around?", Mr. Stark asked him, looking more than impressed, allowing Peter's nerves to finally settle. All he'd ever wanted to do was to impress the man and maybe, _just maybe_ he was finally on the right track. If he could prove that he was competent with tech, maybe Mr. Stark would trust him with more things. He nodded his head with confidence. 

"You know at first I thought what you were doing looked rudimentary and unfocused but now... _Now_ I'm impressed. Not many people could pull that off, Mr. Parker.", the man said and Peter's chest swelled with pride. Usually, he called him, _'Kid'_ or on occasion, _'Underoos'._ It was nice to be called something other than the two less than heroic nicknames that his hero had clung to from the moment they'd met. Then it suddenly occurred to him that for Mr. Stark to have made that sort of assessment he had to have seen what he'd been doing.

"You, you saw what I was doing, sir? I thought you were working on your own stuff and not... not really paying any attention.", Peter said with wide eyes.

"I pulled up what you were doing every now and then to give it a quick looksie.", Mr. Stark shrugged. "It wasn't bad... but think of how much better at it you'll be after I actually teach you a few things."

"You're going to teach me how to do more things with it?", Peter asked in awe. 

"Uh, yeah. That's the whole mentoring gig, right, kid? Me teaching you things?", Mr. Stark replied with a quirk of his brow and then took the boy by the shoulder and began to pull him back towards the lab already issuing instructions.

Peter spent the next two hours, sitting beside Mr. Stark and literally dipping his hands into the state of the art technology that had been offered to him. He found it sort of intriguing that his new mentor was actually a really good teacher. He was surprisingly patient and didn't get frustrated when mistakes were made. Instead, he would wipe the screen and start back at the beginning offered a few words of mild encouragement. 

Time passed quickly and with what felt like no warning at all, Mr. Stark turned off the holographic image and abruptly stood up. "Well, would you look at that. Times up, kid. Happy's on his way to take you home.", the man nonchalantly stated causing Peter to scramble to his feet.

"Oh! Yeah, sure, Mr. Stark. ", Peter hurriedly replied and quickly began to throw his things together so that he could follow the man back out front. "Thank you for everything today, sir. The pizza, showing me around... all of it."

They had just walked into the huge open lobby when Happy walked in but before Peter could approach him, Mr. Stark grabbed him by the elbow. "How about we do this again next week? You up for that?", the man asked making Peter stand up a little taller. 

"Yeah! I mean, yes, sir. That would be awesome.", he replied with cautious enthusiasm. He didn't want to come off as too eager but, really, his entire being was practically vibrating with excitement. 

"Alright, well. I'll see you then. Same time, same place.", Tony returned and then he stuck his hands into his pockets and sauntered back down the hallway, leaving Peter in Happy's capable hands.


	3. Disappointments

During the days between his first Saturday in the lab with Mr. Stark and the Friday leading into the next, Peter didn't hear one word from Happy or his mentor. He still checked-in each night after patrol, leaving a message to recap his activities but he'd never once received any sort of message in return. Not that he'd really expected to have heard anything. He never had before but it certainly would have been appreciated. Especially since he was supposed to be going back to the compound the next day. Some sort of confirmation would have been nice.

With a deep sigh, Peter sat on top of the water town hear his home and lifted his mask just enough to be able to take a bite of the cheese-filled pretzel that the really nice guy whom he'd helped earlier had given him. He knew that, in theory, he should be swinging home to get some sleep but at the same time being out in the cool night air tended to clear his head, and boy did his head need some clearing. 

He'd spent the better part of the week trying to convince Ned that Mr. Stark wasn't going to be offering to make him Avengers anytime soon. He couldn't seem to get it through the other boy's head that he'd not actually turned the position down, not really. _It had been a test._ He'd passed that test already. He'd basically told Mr. Stark that he had a good head on his shoulders and that he knew he wasn't quite ready for the big leagues _even if he was very much ready to take on more challenges._ One mentoring session and a couple of hours being taught how to use holo-aided-design weren't going to be enough for the man to suddenly see him as ready to take on Avengers level threats. He was determined to get there though. He really felt like he'd made some progress on his last visit. Mr. Stark had called him 'Mr. Parker' and then told him that he was _impressed._ It may not have been his hero work being praised but it was something.

By the time he'd taken the last bite of his late-night snack, he decided that maybe he should go ahead and at least try to get some sleep. With any luck, the man would be working with him for the whole time he was there and not just for the last couple of hours. Now that he knew that Mr. Stark wouldn't get annoyed by all of his questions he planned to take full advantage. 

The next morning, Peter work up feeling legitimately excited. Unlike the last time, he had a very good idea of how the day would go and he was so eager to get his hands back on all of Mr. Stark's technology that he could hardly sit still as he shoveled his breakfast into his mouth. To the point that May had to pull his bowl away from him at one point out of fear that he would choke. He'd rolled his eyes and apologized but didn't actually slow down. Happy would be there in another twenty minutes. 

The morning air was cool and there was clouds overhead threatening rain as Peter leaned against the lamp post waiting for the sleek black car to drive up to the curb. It was well past the time the man had arrived the week prior and he was starting to get cold. Then he began to wonder if he'd been forgotten. A quick look at the cracked screen of his phone revealed no missed calls or text but fifteen minutes later when the first few cold drops of rain pelted onto his head and shoulders, he stepped back into this building lobby to try and call Happy.

Three rings and then straight to voicemail. "Hey, Happy," he greeted, trying not to sound as annoyed as he felt. For all he knew the guy was stuck in traffic. "You're not here yet and I hope you're okay but I just wanted to let you know that I'm waiting inside since it started raining," he hurriedly spoke and then rolled his eyes. 'You're not here yet.' Why would he tell him that? God, he needed to work on his social skills or something. "So, um, yeah. Just-- I'll be looking for you. See you soon, bye. --Oh. This is Peter. Peter Parker. Bye."

Not even two full minutes later, Peter's phone started to vibrate in his pocket. It was a return call from, Happy. That seemed weird, the guy had never called him before and he'd certainly never called him back. If anything, he got a brief text. "Hello?"

"Hey, kid, did Tony not call you?", the man asked sounding aggravated to even have to ask. 

"Um, no... sir," Peter responded in mild annoyance because he wasn't stupid. He knew where this was going. For whatever reason, there would be no internship that day. He'd gotten up at the crack of dawn for nothing. It didn't take long for his suspicions to be confirmed as Happy growled lightly in response. 

"God damn it. He _assured me_ that he was going to tell you what was going on," the man grumbled. Peter wanted to scoff, 'Since when did Mr. stark ever tell him what was going on?' He didn't though, he simply hummed in acknowledgment and continued to listen. "He had to leave for Bali last night for, uh... _business._ He said he was going to reschedule with you for next week but I guess he didn't tell you. Anyway, I'm not coming to get you today but I'll see you next week," Happy then explained but he said it with just enough hesitation that it could be surmised that there was nothing business-like about the trip. Clearly something more interesting had come up. 

Peter sighed, threw his head back to glare at the ceiling and attempted to reply without giving away his annoyance. "Oh, yeah, sure. I'm sure he had something super important come up just forgotten to let me know. I'm sorry I bothered you, Happy."

Happy grunted in response and that was how the call ended. Peter looked down at his watch. It was still early leaving him with very few choices. Ned's house wasn't an option until eleven at the earliest. That left going back upstairs to sleep for another hour or going out on patrol. He decided that being behind the Spider-man mask for a while was probably the way to go and turned to climb the stairs, bracing himself for May's questioning when he walked in to drop off his backpack.

When he slipped into the apartment and was met with a questioning look rather than a plethora of concerned inquiries, Peter brought his mouth into a tight line and tried to force a smile. "Happy called and said that Mr. Stark had some sort of a big business thing come up and he had to leave the country. I'm going next week instead," he said with every intention of darting to his room once his explanation was over but May had gotten up from where she sat and now had her warm hand on his still chilled cheek.

"I'm sorry, Sweetie. I know how much you had been looking forward to today," she said with sympathy.

Peter took a deep breath and nodded his head. He had been looking forward to the day. He'd allowed himself to get excited about spending more time with Mr. Stark in his lab and look where it had gotten him. Nowhere. Absolutely nowhere. As angry as he was at Mr. Stark for pushing him aside in favor of traveling to Bali for God knows what, he was even angrier at himself. He should have known better. "It's fine, Aunt May. He's a busy man. I'm just going to patrol for a while and then go to Ned's house. Is that okay?"

May agreed without hesitation and soon enough Peter was out the window and swinging around the city doing what he could. Granted that wasn't much on a Saturday morning but it was enough to keep his mind off of the morning's disappointment. He spent quite a while taking photos with children, doing back-flips for tourists and returning a stolen item here and there. It was mundane and repetitive but he loved it. The people of Queens were his people, he was happy to be there for them, and even though he knew he was capable of taking on more than a petty shoplifter he really was just happy to help. 

When noon finally arrived, Peter swung home and changed into the outfit he'd previously abandoned on his bedroom floor, grabbed a quick lunch and left to catch the bus. Ned was already eagerly awaiting his arrival. 

"Dude, so Mr. Stark just up and... dumped you?" Ned questioned the moment Peter set foot into his bedroom.

"He didn't dump me," Peter blandly replied even though nothing could have been further from the truth. However, he'd spent the entire morning cooling off from the early morning change of plans and wasn't prepared to talk about it again so soon. "He just... made other plans," he lamely excused with a wave of his hand but Ned looked far from accepting that as a valid defense.

"Yeah, he made other plans on top of the plans he'd already made with you. That's not cool, dude. You don't do that to people. It's 'Manners One-oh-One'," Ned pressed much to Peter's further annoyance. He had to bite his tongue for a moment to not shout. He couldn't figure out why everyone was so shocked that Mr. Stark had canceled on him. They all should have seen in coming. Himself included. 

"Yeah, well, he's Tony Stark. I'm pretty sure he makes his own rules about... well, everything. It's fine," Peter replied with a huff. 

Ned sighed sadly and leaned back in the computer chair he'd been sitting in. "It's not fine but we can stop talking about it if you want to."

Nodding his head, Peter reached for the unfinished lego set that was sitting on Ned's self and turned it over in his hands. "Not talking about it would be great. Thanks, man," he said with a small smile, then handed over the box of unused bricks so that they could complete their project. It wasn't the same as working with Mr. Stark but it was comfortable, predictable and just, in general, made him happy. Ned was a good friend. 

For the next week, Peter stewed on everything that had taken place over the weekend. Including the lack of notice for the change in plans. At the end of the day, he decided that he wasn't mad that Mr. Stark had rescheduled. Not completely. While that had been disappointing, what he was furious about was the fact that the man had decided to back out of their plans without ever saying a word about it. Not that he should have been shocked. Mr. Stark had never been good at communicating with him and as such, he remained cautiously optimistic about the upcoming Saturday's 'rescheduled' internship day.

As it where Peter's apprehension turned out to be unwarranted. Mr. Stark didn't cancel again and he spent the majority of their time together teaching him more about the holo-designs and started going into how to leave appropriate documentation notes so that things could move into the prototype stage. He was hands-on through all of it and anyone who was watching would have thought that the two of them had been working together for months rather than hours. However, if they were listening in they would realize that wasn't the case. 

While Mr. Stark was as chatty as ever, Peter only spoke up when he had to answer or wanted to ask a question. While he was far more comfortable seeing as it was his second time there, Peter chose to remain quiet and focused as he listened and took notes. Even during lunch when Mr. Stark tried to pull some kind of conversation out of him he kept mostly to himself. The man seemed to be making an effort to be friendly but he wasn't going to set himself up for more disappointment by reciprocating. He knew his mentor was no doubt brushing it off as him being shy or star-struck and he was fine with that. He'd not expected Mr. stark to take the time to realize that anything was going on anyway. In fact, the closest the man had come to saying anything about the sustained silence was when he quipped something along the lines of 'nice chat.' after he'd failed to spark a conversation between them as they ate. 

By the time Peter was getting back into Happy's car, there was no denying that it had been a good day. A really good day, actually but still, he remained leery of what was to come. He'd, of course, been invited back the following week and surprisingly that one went just as well as the previous. Only that time, Peter had opened up a little more. It was the same with the next week and just as he was starting to think that things were going really, really well, everything went downhill again. 

On Saturday morning, Happy dropped him off at the compound as was the current routine. Peter made his way to the lab on his own because Mr. Stark wasn't there to greet him but he didn't think anything of it. He'd been coming and going down those corridors for over a month and knew every turn by heart. He didn't think anything of it when he walked into an empty lab either. He assumed the man was running late. That didn't seem outside of the realm of possibility so he simply put down his things and got to work going over his notes from the week before. 

He'd only been sitting there for ten minutes when he was startled from his work. "Hey, kid.", Peter heard Mr. Stark say from behind him and flinched at the suddenness of his voice. 

"Oh! Hey, Mr. Stark. I didn't hear you come in--" he replied with a deep gasping breath. It was unusual for him to get so absorbed in anything that he lost track of his surroundings. Then he realized that the man wasn't in his usual jeans and t-shirt. "--You're in your suit," he stated in surprise. "Are you... testing something?"

At those words, the faceplate on the suit flipped up to reveal an empty helmet. "Oh. I'm not really... _here_. I'm at a resort in Greece.", the man's voice said as the suit took a few more steps forward. "I just wanted to let you know you can do whatever you want on the schematics just stay away from the heavy machinery. FRIDAY's keeping an eye on you and you can have her order whatever you want for lunch."

"If you're not here then why am I here?" Peter questioned while swallowing back the disappointment that was washing over him. He couldn't decide if being canceled on had been better or worse than being left alone in the giant workshop with an AI 'watching him'. Either way, it was crushing to know that the man had, once again, actively chosen to be somewhere other than with him.

"Well, this was a last-minute kind of deal and I figured you could handle being in there by yourself so--" the tinny voice tried to casually explain but Peter was still fully hung up on the fact that the man had thought that inviting him there to work without guidance was an acceptable alternative to mentoring. 

"--Why would I want to be here by myself, Mr. Stark? That defeats the whole purpose of me coming here," Peter questioned and then had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself from saying anything else. The disappointment was slowly turning into anger. If the man had taken the time to _ask him_ how he felt about being there under those conditions things might have been different but again, he'd been left out of the loop. Mr. Stark had made the decision without him.

The suit raised its arms in defeat and had Peter not been _sure_ that the man could see him in the corner of whatever HUD interface he was using to control the armor from afar, he would have rolled his eyes. "Jesus, kid. You're acting like I completely bailed on you or something," Mr. Stark's voice said, sounding as if he couldn't understand why his lack of presence would make a difference. It was as if there was no personal connection for him at all and that thought made Peter's heart sink. It was then that he realized that he'd stupidly started believing that the man looked forward to their internship days as much as he did.

At that point, Peter started to pack up the few things that he'd taken out and made a point of turning away from the empty suit of armor. Mostly so that Mr. Stark wouldn't be able to see how childishly upset that he was. "That's exactly what you did.", he finally replied once he had gained enough nerve to say it.

"I didn't--" Tony's voice began but Peter was quick to cut him off. He already had his jacket zipped up and his backpack on his shoulder. All he needed now was a ride.

"--I want to go home. Can you tell Happy, I'm ready to go home, please?" he requested and hurried towards the door before the man could say anything else. "Bye, Mr. Stark. I guess I'll see you next week," he spat out and then quickly navigated the hallways so that he could sit and wait for Happy in the large echoing lobby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry! It's going to get better eventually I PROMISE!!❤


	4. Angry Words

Peter didn't hold a grudge. He never had, he probably never would. It simply wasn't in his nature. This is why when the next Saturday rolled around, he showed up at the compound completely prepared to ignore everything that had taken place the week prior. He did, however, adjust his expectations. He resigned himself to the fact that Mr. Stark being friendly when they worked together, didn't make them friends. While he wasn't in love with the idea of being the man's pet project he wasn't sure how to change that. He wasn't sure what it was that he had to do in order to prove to the man that he was _worth_ his time.

Ned had tried to reason with him that being allowed into _Tony-freaking-Stark's_ private lab without supervision had been complexly awesome and he wasn't wrong. It's just that the lab wasn't the reason Peter had started going there, or why he'd continued to go back. It wasn't about the tech, even if it was beyond amazing. It was the fact that he could go in there and learn things that he would never be able to learn from anyone else. He went there to see Mr. Stark.

May, on the other hand, had been a bit more on the fence about the whole thing. While she didn't like it, she did make a point of saying that the situation probably said something about how much Mr. Stark trusted him. After all, he'd been allowed around the man's personal projects and things while he was out of the country. Peter didn't feel the need to point out that FRIDAY had probably been set up to babysit him. He didn't even want to know what kind of diminutive name that protocol had been given.

However, both Ned and May had agreed that Mr. Stark had gone about it all unfairly. There was no reason why the man couldn't have said something beforehand. Ideally asking him if he was comfortable working in the lab on his own. May had offered to talk to his mentor about how to handle those sorts of decisions in the future but Peter had adamantly declined. Mr. Stark looked at him like he was a kid enough as it was. He didn't need the person who amounted to 'his mom' calling and trying to 'fix' things for him. He would deal with it on his own, _in his own time._

Ultimately, Peter had decided not to bring any of it up and apparently so had Mr. Stark because nothing was ever said. Things were a little awkward for the first few minutes of their next meeting but as they delved into the science, it eased up and things fell back into a more natural rhythm. Even at lunch, they managed to carry a normal conversation. Peter asked Mr. Stark about his latest projects and Mr. Stark asked Peter about his patrols. That had led to a discussion about 'boundaries' and 'grey areas' but Peter didn't say anything about that either. Even if there was a small part of him that wanted to remind the man that he'd handled himself just fine with the Vulture. He shivered a bit as the man's face came to mind and he had to take a few steady breaths to clear his head of the image of the guy's bright green eyes. Thankfully, the man gave no indication that he'd noticed his mentees momentary fear response and just kept rambling.

The rest of the afternoon went by just as pleasantly as the morning and in what felt like no time at all, they were wrapping it up for the day. Peter was again asked to return the following weekend. He nodded his head with a weak smile as he said his obligatory, "Yes, sir. See you next week.", even though he wasn't the slightest be sure as to whether or not that was the truth. 

~o~o~o~o~o~

As it were, when Peter next saw Mr. Stark, it wasn't a Saturday. It wasn't planned and it _wasn't appreciated._

The whole thing had started on a Tuesday night. While on patrol, Peter had caught wind of a major arms deal that was going to go down near the port. Not wanting the number of weapons that had been discussed floating around his borough, he decided to check it out. With his AI's assistance, he was able to listen in on the conversation and found out that the weapons had already been taken to another location to be distributed. It sounded like there would only be one person keeping watch at the holding area and Peter was sure he could deal with that. He'd handled six armed robbers once, one guy sounded easy peasy.

So, the next day right after school, he made his way to the place the other men had spoken of and found that there really was only one heat signature in the area. He crept into the building via the roof and dropped down into the furthermost portion of the building where there were crates stacked up to the ceiling. "Karen? Are the weapons in those crates?" he whispered and waited for his AI to scan the packages only to find that there weren't just handguns and Automatic rifles in them. There were alien weapons. The same kinds of weapons the Vulture had been creating and selling. For all, he knew _they were_ the weapons he'd been creating. There was no way to know whether or not all of the man's stash had been obtained once he'd been sent off to jail. If anything it would make sense for there to have been more stored outside of the place the police had been made aware of during the investigation and trial. 

Being as he was already there, Peter wasn't about to back out. He really felt like he could finish the job. "Alright, Spider-man. It's one guy. You've got this," Peter whispered to himself as he bounced on his toes and scanned the room for his opponent. His plan was to web up the lookout guy, find out who else was involved and then call the police. It was simple. 

He started by crawling onto the ceiling where no one would suspect to look and easily dropped down behind the pacing man's back. He was able to dodge the attacks at followed including several shots from some sort of super-powered laser gun. It probably helped that the man didn't seem to know much about how to use it. His aim was off and he was slow to control it. At least partially because of that, he was able to dodge, banter, and flip until he successfully had the man pinned. 

The next part of his plan fell through. Instead of asking the webbed up criminal who else was involved there seemed to be a sudden influx of large men, all armed with similar weapons in hand, rushing towards him. Peter took a deep breath and closed his eyes, allowing his senses to take over. Then he jumped into action, his body moving so quickly that it felt as though he had very little control over it, webbing each one of the arms deals to the ground while simultaneously weaving between the various shots being taken at him. He managed to avoid being directly hit by anything, thought the explosions and shrapnel had taken their toll. They left him with a bloody nose and a few small tears in his suit'souter most layer. Overall, he thought he'd done well.

Once he had them all down, he stood tall in the middle of the room and cracked a small smile. He'd used his senses to avoid being hit before but never to that caliber. He was suddenly filled with pride and a brand new sense of accomplishment. He stuck around just long enough for the police to arrive, yet managed to take off before the news had time to try and talk to him. Choosing instead to swing up to the top of a nearby building and look on as the men he'd captured were taken away while watching the live news report in the corner of his vision. "Thanks to Spider-man these weapons can be transported for proper storage and will remain out of the hands of the criminals of New York," he heard the young woman say just as he noticed Iron Man approaching from the distance.

"Oh, hey, Mr. Stark," Peter said in surprise, removing his mask once his mentor had landed in front of him. There had been no indication that the man had been aware of his activities, though he supposed it was possible that he too had been watching the local news. It seemed as though every station had cut in to say something about the bust. He couldn't help but feel useful and proud. Spider-man had once again proved that he was good at more than just helping old ladies cross the street. He assumed his mentor would be proud of him too and stumbled backward a few steps when the faceplate lifted to reveal a frown.

"What were you thinking?" the man clipped, surprisingly leaving room for his mentee to answer. However, no words came because Mr. Stark looked... _angry_ and Peter couldn't figure out why. He hadn't done anything wrong. All that came of his mouth was a pathetic hum of confusion. Taking that as answer enough, Mr. Stark continued into his rant. "I'm pretty sure we've already had this exact conversation, kid. Alien weapons dealers? _Above your pay grade._ There are people who take care of those kinds of things. People who _aren't you."_

"But Mr. Stark-" Peter shouted, having suddenly found the ability to speak again. He'd done well and wasn't going to allow his heroism to be downplayed. Though, this time, _unsurprisingly_ , Mr. Stark was speaking again before he could get out his defense.

"-Weapons were going off left and right. You're lucky that the building is still standing and that none of the business beside it were damaged. Hell, you're lucky no one killed in the process!" the man practically growled and Peter just blinked back at him. Luck had had nothing to do with it. He'd thought things through, used his abilities, and been able to amend his plan on a dime with the situation had called for it. 

"I stopped them and nothing bad happened. Everything was fine," he finally uttered with confidence. 

"Yeah, sure. Everything turned out just peachy. Look at you. Your suits a wreck and your nose is bleeding," Mr. Stark asked him while waving his hand towards Peter's bloodied face. "Kid, you could have been _killed_."

"But I wasn't," Peter stated matter-of-factly. "I was fine too. I'm enhanced, Mr. Stark. I have elevated senses, super strength, and near-perfect reflexes. You can't keep treating me like a child!" he continued feeling more and more aggravated the more he spoke. It was as though he finally reached the limit of how much repression he could take. He'd been doing the Spider-man thing for months before the billionaire had ever tracked him down and while he appreciated his offer for tech and mentorship he couldn't help but feel like he was being held back.

"You are a child!" Mr. Stark shouted without hesitation.

"You can't keep treating me like I'm incapable then. I may not be eighteen yet but I'm also not six. I can hold my own," Peter bit back as he stood up a little taller. He was suddenly feeling acutely aware of the five or so inches he lacked to reach Iron Man's height. Not that his height defined his age or ability but it certainly felt like it would help his situation if the man didn't have to literally look down at him to meet his eyes.

Mr. Stark sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, seemingly searching for the right words to say. "I'm not saying you aren't capable. I'm saying that you're not ready. Even you said you weren't ready! I specifically remember you telling me that you wanted to stay on the ground a little bit longer."

"Yeah but that was a test, Mr. Stark, and this, _this was real._ When I found out that they were going to be stockpiling weapons to sell, I had to 'em down. I didn't know they were alien weapons until I got there it wasn't like I could just _walk away_! They would have moved to a new location before anyone else could have gotten there," Peter strained. He was done trying to prove himself. He just needed the man to see things the way he did. 

"First of all that wasn't-" Mr. Stark began before shaking his head throwing a dismissive hand up into the air, "-Nevermind. Walking away is exactly what you should have done. You. Call. Happy with that sort of thing! We've been over this! He's your point man."

Peter glared. "What and have him hang up on me like he hung up on Ned? Look, with all due respect, sir, I took down the Vulture by myself. That night? I pushed myself harder than ever, I got myself out from under a collapsed building and I saved your stupid plane with any help from you _or your technology_. That was _all me_ and do you know why it was _all me_? Because you don't listen to _me!_ " he snapped, chest rising and falling in a rapid pulse as he did so.

For a few seconds, Tony was quiet. Peter could see his jaw clenching and unclenching several times before he opened his mouth. "I _do_ listen to you, kid. How many times can I tell you that? _I listened to you_ when you told me those weapons were out there the first time. I'm the one who called the FBI. Remember that? _I'm the one that called the FBI_ , which I would have done _again_ if you had bothered to tell me what was going on! I listen just fine, you, on the other hand, don't tell me anything. You-"

Before Mr. Stark could finish his harangue Peter scoffed. "-Oh, _that's rich_ coming from you," he nearly seethed but didn't back down. Not even when Mr. Starks's eyebrows raised in response to his snarky retort. "You're really going to stand there and give a lecture on _me_ about not telling _you_ things? How was I supposed to know that you'd called the FBI that night? You never said one word to me about any of that. If you had, I wouldn't have interfered and the ferry wouldn't have ended up in halves. It's not just that though. I mean maybe you do listen, I don't know. It's hard to tell when you don't ever talk _with_ me or ask me for my opinion. Even when it directly affects me you don't seem to care about what I have to say." At that point, his eyes were starting to water with aggravation and in turn, his voice had begun to steadily rise in an attempt to draw away from that fact. 

Tony took a few steps closer to his mentee with the obvious intention of placing a placating hand on his shoulder or say maybe say something but it was also obvious that he was feeling completely out of his element. "Pete-"

"-I never know what you're thinking or what you want from me!" Peter interjected in frustration. "What I do know is that I'm more competent than you think I am, Mr. Stark, and I don't want to be stuck being your _f-fucking pet project_ forever!" he ended, then taking a split second to wipe the tears off of his face.

"Hey! _Language!_ " Mr. Stark reprimanded without missing a beat and Peter's head snapped back up from where he'd been staring down at the graveled rooftop. After everything, he'd just unpacked the man wanted to focus on his _language?_

"That's what you took from that? Seriously?" Peter asked with indignance and was of the right mind to put his mask back on and swing away. The only thing stopping him was the fact that Mr. Stark was still in his armor and would simply follow him. Then he glanced up and saw that his mentors face and shifted from irritation to something a bit softer and unfamiliar.

"Look, Pete. We shouldn't be doing this here. You should come with me back to the compound. We can discuss this there," Mr. Stark said with a sigh and an almost pleading look.

"What, _now_ you want to talk?" Peter haughtily inquired. 

Mr. Stark took a deep breath in through his nose and nodded his head. "Yes. Clearly we need to figure something out because this-" he said, pausing to wave a hand haphazardly between them, "-isn't' working."

Peter scuffed his feet around in the gravel and twisted his mask in his hands. "Are you going to take the suit?" he asked, then raised his eyes to meet his mentors.

"What- no, I'm not going to take the suit. I just want to talk to you. ... _with you,"_ the man returned. 

After searching Mr. Stark's face for any indication of mistruth or belittling, Peter gave in with a small huff. "Okay."

Then, with a curt nod of the head, Mr. Stark looked over his shoulder towards the skyline and lowered his faceplate. "I'm going to get a car. I'll meet you at your apartment in thirty.", he said and then took off, Peter watching him as he went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Author grins sweetly* It gets better [inthenextchapter]. Just... just gimme a minute. 😂


	5. Resolution

After climbing in through his window, Peter went straight to the shower. His hair was matted with sweat and there was blood dried to his face. Even knowing that Mr. Stark would be there in less than twenty minutes, he took his time. He scrubbed his hair and allowed the warm soapy water to roll down his back and soothe his tense muscles. The verbal altercation he'd had with his mentor on that rooftop had left him feeling somewhat out of sorts. 

He had just stepped out and wrapped a towel around his waist when he heard a knock at the front door. With May at work, he had to be the one to open it. "Just a minute! I'm coming!" he shouted while hurridly pulling some boxers and a pair of pants over his still slightly damp legs. He'd already shouted at the man, made several rude comments, and cursed right to his face, he didn't want to leave him waiting on top of that.

"You ready roll, kid?" Mr. Stark asked the second the door swung open. Though once he'd taken in the appearance of his half-dressed and dripping mentee he rolled his eyes. "On second thought, how about you put a shirt on first" he added as he wandered into the living room and took a seat on the couch. "-and pack up your suit to bring with you."

Peter needed no further prompting to hurry back to his room to finish dressing and haphazardly dump out his backpack so that he could shove his suit into it. This time he didn't bother packing any sort of homework or snack. He simply threw the exceptionally light bag over his shoulder and slowly made his way back towards his mentor. "I'm ready," he whispered even though he wasn't really sure if he was ready or not. He had no idea what sort of lecture the man had in store for him but he was fully prepared to hold his ground. 

After that, Mr. Stark lead the way down the stairs and right up to a brand new car. "You bought a car?" Peter questioned as he approached the back end of the bright red Audi that still had the dealer tags on it. Even knowing the man was a literal billionaire it was hard to imagine someone just going out and buying a car like it was a bag of chips. ' _Here, I've got the cas_ h.'

"Well, yeah. I couldn't exactly fly us both back in the Iron Man armor so I bought a car. What's the problem? Get in," Tony insisted with a wave of his hand. Peter hesitantly wavered in the space between the passenger side front and back doors as he tried to decide where he was meant to get in. He was going to ask when he realized his mentor was frowning at him from inside the car. "Front seat. Let's go," the man called out while reaching over the center console and pushing the door open so that he could get inside.

The ride to the compound was quiet. Almost too quiet, it was like waiting for the other shoe to drop. At one point, Peter chanced to pull his pocket. When Mr. Stark didn't even give him a sideways look he proceeded to read through the dozens of messages Ned had sent him. Most of them being complaints that he'd not been the 'guy in the chair' during the bust but there were bits of praise and awe sprinkled in there as well. At least someone had faith in him. Even if it was only Ned. He wondered if May had caught the news yet. Then he decided he should probably text her to let her know he was fine and with Mr. Stark. He had no idea when he would be home and didn't want her to worry. After that, he carefully laid his head down on the window and quietly watched the scenery pass by.

Eventually, they began to pull up the long, familiar drive and Peter lifted his head from the window. He could see the front entrance ahead and expected them to head that way except they didn't. Mr. Stark drove right past it and into an underground garage where he parked among what looked like dozens of other sports cars. Being as he'd never been in the garage before, he looked out the window with absolute wonder. The entire collection was probably worth more than his life.

From there he followed his mentor into an elevator that opened up into a large living space. It took longer than it should have for Peter to register that he was standing in the middle of Tony Starks's living room. "Is this, is this your-"

"-My home? Yes," Mr. Stark spoke over the top of Peter's stuttered inquiry as he sauntered into the large open kitchen and began to rummage through the refrigerator. "I'm going to make you something to eat. You like sandwiches right?" 

Peter was still somewhat stunned by the fact that he was standing inside of Tony Stark's home. Then the man started making him food and it all felt extremely unreal. "Um.. yeah,", he finally stuttered as the question processed fully.

"-Of course you do because you're not picky. I _remember_ that-" Mr. Stark said as he rapidly began to stack sandwich fixings onto the table, "-and look I'm going to make yours with deli-sliced chicken instead of ham. You know why? Because no matter what I order you always go straight for the chicken. Chicken Alfredo, Chicken Tikka Masala, Barbecue chicken... every time, you eat the chicken. I _noticed_ that about you. That's why I keep ordering it," he continued matter-of-factly, never looking up from where he'd started piling bread onto plates.

"Thank you, I-" Peter stammered but as always, Mr. Stark was quick to interject. This time, while walking back over to the refrigerator. 

"-Oh and here you go, kid," the man interjected, then sliding a can of familiar soda across the bar towards where Peter was still standing, frozen in place. "-I don't even like Root Beer but I started ordering it after you mentioned that it was your favorite. Because I _listen_ to you all the time."

Peter took a few steps forward to take the can but he really didn't know what to say. His thoughts were swirling confusingly in his head. Everything he'd thought he understood was now being turned on its head and he no longer knew what to think. "I--" he sputtered even though he was sure he was going to be interrupted.

"-The people of Queens love you," Mr. Stark commented without immediate context. Instead, he paused to go over to the other side of the kitchen to get a knife. Once he returned he offered a split second of eye-contact before resuming his task and his explanation. "They give you things while you're out on patrol. Some buy gave you a pretzel just the other night. Though, you're particularly fond of the churros that that one little old lady buys you after you help her with her groceries on Wednesdays. Finding and returning lost dogs makes you happier than any other mundane friendly neighborhood favor you do because you love dogs. You know how I know all of this? Because I make Happy listen to every single one of your nightly reports just to go back and listen to them again for myself. I _like_ to know what you've been up to."

Swallowing hard, Peter looked down at the can of soda that was still unopened in his hand. "You, you listen to those messages?" he asked with trepidation. He'd always assumed that Happy skimmed through them. If he listened to them at all. It never would have crossed his mind that his mentor was listening to them.

"Yep," Tony clipped back, not unkindly. "Not all of them. A lot of them," he clarified with a tilt of his head. Then he cut the two sandwiches he just built into diagonal halves and slide a plate towards Peter, gesturing towards the stools that lined the high-topped bar. "-and for the record, I don't think that you're incapable and you're certainly not a pet project."

Rather than sitting down as he was asked, Peter stilled at those words. While he was starting to grasp the concept that maybe his mentor did listen to him, he still wasn't sold on the idea that he was anything more than a casual undertaking. "Then why don't you trust me! I can do more!" he spontaneously shouted before he had a chance to consider his volume.

"Because I don't want you to get hurt!" Mr. Stark strained in return, seemingly unconcerned about his mentee outburst. 

Already back in defense mode, Peter set down his can of soda in favor of crossing his arms over his chest. "Right, because that would be on you and I hate to be a smudge on your conscience," he sarcastically bit back.

"It's not about that, kid! I mean it is but-" the man said and then took a deep breath. "-I also _care_ about you, okay? I care about you. There, now I've said it."

As much as Peter wanted to take that statement and cling on to it for dear life, he was still unsure if should. "So you cancel on me? You care about me so much that you take off the moment something more exciting comes up?" he questioned as his brows furrowed with a lack of understanding. 

Mr. Stark sighed and ran a hand over his face. "Are you talking about when I went to Greece? I thought you would like being in the lab by yourself-" he calmly expressed but his mild tone wasn't enough to mollify his riled up mentee.

"-Well, I didn't. I come to see you, Mr. Stark. To learn things from you, not to take advantage of your stuff,", Peter snapped. 

Raising his hands in defense, Mr. stark shook his head and took a few steps towards Peter. "I just assumed--" he began

"--Exactly! You assumed," Peter interjected. "You didn't even ask me what I would have wanted. You never ask me!"

Realizing exactly how upset Peter was becoming, Mr. Stark smiled sadly and tried to take a hold of his young mentee's shoulder only to be violently dodged. "Hey, Calm down, kiddo,", he softly spoke as he retracted his offending hand. "You're right I didn't ask you. I guess I thought you would enjoy having a break from me. I know better than that now, alright?" 

Feeling tears starting to prick his eyes, Peter opted not to say anything else and merely nodded his head. When a hand then fell heavily on his shoulder, he didn't try to escape it. He allowed it to rest there and was surprised when a few seconds later he was being pulled forward into a tight hug. "I know you're strong, Pete. I know all of the amazing things that you're capable of. I just want to protect you. Keep you safe," he heard the man whisper into his ear as he began to relax into the embrace.

At that point, there was no blinking back the emotion and tears fell freely. He had no idea how long they stood there holding onto each other but eventually, Peter sighed deeply and gently pushed away, taking a second to wipe his hands down his face. "You do keep me safe, Mr. Stark. The suit you made me keeps me safe and I... I need you to trust me more. I _want_ you to trust me when I tell you that I have it," he pleadingly whispered, "I can do more."

"I know you can and I'll try to give you the space you need to do that but no promises, kiddo," Tony said with a small, somewhat apologetic smile. "-but how about you give me a heads up next time you're going to jump head-first into some kind of illegal trade. I have a _heart condition_."

Peter shook her head and took a deep shuddering breath. "How am I supposed to give you a heads up?"

Huffing a laugh, Mr. Stark sat down at the bar where his sandwich still sat, untouched. "What do you mean, 'How?' You pick up your phone and call me."

"I don't have your number. I can only call Happy and he hardly ever answers, Peter reasoned before taking his own seat beside his mentor.

"You don't?" the man asked as if he'd been certain that he'd handed over his pwn personal number at some point. Though when Peter shook his head he immediately started tapping on the countertop between them. "Well, we're going to fix that right now. Give me your phone," he demanded and Peter did as was asked and set his phone beside his plate. Mr. Stark picked it up and rapidly started typing into it before setting it back down. 

Peter looked down at the newly added contact and smiled a little when it read 'Tony.' "Thanks," he said with a nod of his head. He couldn't wait to tell Ned that he had Tony stark's number in his phone. 

Tony picked up his sandwich in one hand and motioned towards Peter's larger one with his other. "Great. Now, let's eat," he said with a smile.

Things turned quiet as they ate. Peter finished his sandwich and without ever having to ask, Mr. Stark got to his feet and started making him another. Apparently the man had also noticed his bottomless pit of a stomach because he was quick to grab some chips out of the pantry at the same time. He thanked him and immediately started eating his way through his second plate. As he did so, he thought about every change that had taken place between himself and Mr. Stark that day and sighed. 

"Hey, Mr. Stark?" he asked, turned a chip over his hands as if he were studying it.

"Yeah, Buddy?" Mr. Stark returned, immediately pausing in what he'd been doing to give his mentee his full attention. 

Peter sighed again and began breaking the chip he was holding into tiny pieces. The action served no purpose. It was just a nervous gesture. Something to do occupy his hands while he tried to decide the best we to word his question. "Did you mean it when you said you that you cared about me, Mr. Stark? Like, really mean it? Or was it just an _'I'm you're my responsibility'_ kind of thing?" he nervously queried. He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer. 

"Yeah, kiddo, I meant that. I care about you a lot. I don't guess I ever took the time to consider that maybe it went both ways," Mr. Stark replied with a smile and then huffed a self-deprecating sort of laugh. "You know, I'll probably never be a very good mentor. In fact, I'm kind of a mess. Ask anyone. Especially Pepper."

Peter smiled back and nodded his head. He didn't necessarily agree with the man's statement so much as he was eager to press on to the other question that had been on his mind. "What are we going to do now, Mr. Stark?" he asked with a twist of his nose. 

"You mean after we eat? I haven't really given it a whole lot of thought," the man replied without thought.

"No, I meant, like, in the future. Are things going to stay the same? Am I still going to come over on Saturdays?" Peter asked with a shake of his head. 

Mr. Stark smiled and placed a hand on the back of Peters's neck, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Of course. I like our Saturdays," he said with a fondness to his tone that Peter had never really heard before but it made his heart swell.

"Are you sure. You don't have to do that, Mr. Stark," Peter politely offered. He was nearly sure that his mentor was being genuine but he really didn't want their time together to be an obligation. He wanted it to be something they both enjoyed and looked forward too. 

"I want to. I promise I want to," Mr. Stark returned without room for argument. "You're my lab buddy."

Those words made Peter smile. For the first time ever he legitimately felt like Mr.Stark wanted him that. That he liked him and really did want him around. "Cool," he replied with a nod of his and then turned to look at his still smiling mentor.

"You bet your ass that's cool. Because I'm cool-" Mr. Stark quipped before growing slightly more serious, "-I _am_ going to try to do a better job of making sure you know how much I care about you." 

"Okay," Peter hesitantly returned. He was pretty sure the man had meant what he'd said but there was still a tiny bit of lingering doubt. He hoped that it would fade with time.

Mr. Stark nodded his head, stood up, and stretched his arms over his head. "You about done?" he asked with a groan as he glanced at his watch. "We need to go make some repairs to your suit. What time do you need to be home?"

Rapidly placing the last bite of crust into his mouth, he pulled out his phone and looked at the time as well. The evening was still young. His aunt wouldn't be home for hours. "Oh, um. May's at work until ten so I guess I have a few hours until I _have_ to leave," he said, noting that the only response he'd gotten from her was a reminder that it was a school night. 

"Great," Tony replied with genuine enthusiasm. "Just leave your plate there, I'll get it later. It shouldn't take long to get your suit all patched up. Do you want to watch a movie after?" he asked and all Peter could do was look at him in surprise. They'd never done anything so casual before but couldn't deny that it sounded amazing. 

"Yes, please. That, that sounds awesome," Peter said trying to sound less excited about it than he was. Mr. Stark had never done anything with him other than science stuff. He'd helped him with his homework one time but that too had been science-related. Now the man was making him dinner and offering to watch movies with him _on his couch_. He wondered if he should be feeling awkward or guilty about the suddenness of it all but he didn't. It felt _good._

As had been expected, repairing the small tears took very little time. It wasn't even quite seven o'clock before the pair made their way back up to the penthouse. Mr. Stark waved Peter towards the living room while he made a couple of bags of microwave popcorn and placed it all in a large bowl. When asked, Peter hesitated about picking a movie giving Tony another opportunity to prove how much he listened by suggesting Star Wars. Of course, there was no argument and soon they were halfway into A New Hope.

"Mr. Stark?" Peter asked as he passed the bowl back over to his mentor. He'd spent the last few minutes looking beside him, still feeling completely overwhelmed that Tony Stark had said that _he cared about him._ That statement alone had made the fight they'd had well worth it and now they could move forward, work on their communication skills, and start being more honest with each other. 

"Hmm?" the mab hummed in response as he tipped his head back and tossed a few kernels into his mouth with expert precision. 

With a shake of his head, Peter huffed a laugh at the action. He wondered how many other people got to see Tony Stark in such a relaxed state. "I think you're going to be a great mentor," he said with a grin.

Tony laughed and stretched his arm over the back of the couch so that it rested on the top, above Peter's head. " _Maybe._ ...but only because I have a feeling that you're going to be more than happy to put me in my place from time to time," he said with a glint in his eyes.

"Absolutely", Peter agreed with a mischievous grin. Now that he'd stood up to the man once, doing it again didn't seem quite so scary. Especially since it had ended so well. "No more canceling on me for no good reason and when you do you have to actually tell me, _and_ you have to talk to me about stuff, not just listen to me. Like, I have to _know_ you're listening to me."

"We can do that-" Mr. Stark said with conviction. "- _and_ maybe we can work some hand to hand combat training into our Saturdays, you know, _to ease my mind_ ," he suggested with a smirk. 

Peter's eyes went wide at the notion. Combat training with Iron Man sounded like a superhero dream come true. "That sounds completely and totally _awesome,_ " he replied said with awe causing the man to chuckle beside him.. 

"I'm glad you approve," Mr. Stark returned with a roll of his eyes. Then he did something wholly unexpected when he said, "Now, get over here, you-", and wrapped his arm around Peter's shoulders, pulling him closer into his side. "-I'm trying to watch this _really old movie."_

Peter's first reaction was to stiffen but it only took a few seconds for him to become comfortable with the mild affection and was able to melt into it. That was how they sat for the remainder of the movie, Tony leaned back on the cushions with an arm around the back of the couch behind while Peter sat with his head resting neatly on Mr. Stark's shoulder and by the end of the night it felt natural.

Things between them continued to improve over time. They started talking more often especially when all nightly patrol reports stopped going through Happy. Mr. Stark got better at relaying information as Peter got better at asking for it and misunderstandings from lack of communication then fell to a minimum. Because of that, Saturdays at the compound eventually became regularly scheduled weekends at the compound and it wasn't unusual to see them working together on a random Tuesday night here and there on top of that. 

Combat training was something else that became regularly scheduled and with time, Peter got used to allowing Iron Man to step in to help him out when something 'above his paygrade' came up. He actually found that teaming up was nice because it meant that the two of them rapidly learned how to seamlessly fight side by side. They figured out how to play off of each other's strengths, anticipating each other's moves, and eventually create combinations. All the while, Mr. Stark telling him that he _wasn't_ an Avenger yet they both knew that that day would come. Peter was becoming more than just a potential asset to the team. He was proving himself to be a good, strong, future leader.

Bonding became inevitable the two of them grew close. Hugging slowly became more frequent and it took very little time for Mr. Stark to learn the best ways to comfort his kid when he was upset or stressed out because there was no denying that the kid had become _his kid_. Everyone accepted it. Even Ms. Potts quickly became accustomed to walking into the suite to find her finance and his pseudo son snuggled up on the couch, sound asleep with a movie playing unwatched in the background. She'd simply smile and drape a blanket over them

...but not before having FRIDAY snap a few pictures.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, the ending of this chapter gave me a hard time! As such, I hope it's suitable. 😬
> 
> Come see me on Tumblr! [happyaspie](https://yes-i-am-happyaspie.tumblr.com/)


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